


witches, and kittens, and hot guys, oh my!

by coranicmechanic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Slow Burn, firstfichahaha, lance unlocks keiths tragic backstory, pidge has a demon cat, they own a cat shelter, they're all magical
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-17 11:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9321875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coranicmechanic/pseuds/coranicmechanic
Summary: Keith had a boring life.Until he decides to follow a brown haired boy into a cat shelter.Or: a magic au that I mostly write at 1 in the morning.





	1. Employees Only

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhm this is my first Voltron fic and my first fic after many many years! I apologize for any errors i have made in this chapter, if you notice any please tell me. Thank you and enjoy!

Keith didn't really know what exactly had drawn him to the small cat shelter at the end of the street. Maybe it was the rain falling, or the rumble of thunder, or the freezing weather, or maybe it was the sight of a tan-skinned boy, running for cover into the shelter screaming bloody murder. Whatever it was, Keith now found himself opening the shelter door, his nose wrinkling up at the smell of cat litter and vanilla air freshener mixing together.

"Pidge, why!?" Keith spotted the tan-skinned boy yelling at a tiny figure with short tangled hair and oversized glasses perched on their nose. The young girl was slumped over on the floor obviously distracted by something else. 

The shelter, although small looking on the outside, was large on the inside and had large play pens full of cats lining the walls with the occasional shelf of cat food. There was a register at the far end of a table next to a brown door labeled, " **EMPLOYEES ONLY**."

"PIDGE." The tan-skinned boy whined, throwing his hands up in exasperation. The young girl kept ignoring him, and opting to continue playing with her silky black furred cat. Keith coughed awkwardly trying to get their attention, but what he wanted to come out as a cough, instead sounded more like a cat hacking up a hairball. The two people quickly turned their heads toward him in surprise.

"Hello! The name's Lance." The tan-skinned one said, the anger on his face morphing into a smile. "Welcome to The Castle of Cats! How may I help you?" Keith was suddenly struck by how good looking this boy actually was. Even though his clothes were wet and his hair was matted down by the rain, Keith still thought this boy looked nice, especially with those blue eyes staring right at him...

Feeling a blush creep up, Keith cast his eyes to the side.

"I'm actually not here to buy-"

"Just looking around?" Lance asked.

"No, you see-"

"Are you here for Allura?"

Keith tried again, feeling annoyance start to bubble up inside him. "No, I'm-"

"Are you here for-"

"Lance, let him finish." The younger one snapped. "You're never gonna be as good at divination as Allura is so just give up." Lance folded his arms and let out a small huff.

"There looks like there's going to be a storm outside and this was the closest place." Keith explained to them, throwing a quick glare in Lance's direction. The younger one stood up and made her way over to Keith, cat in hands.

"I'm Pidge," She said, examining him. "You've chosen the right place to stay for a storm, you can literally never get bored here."

"I'm Keith."

"If you don't mind me asking," Pidge started. "how did you find this place? I mean, it's practically hidden."

Keith's face turned bright red, remembering watching Lance run into the shelter.

"Um, I guess I sort of just found it?" Keith said, his answer sounding more like a question.

"Did you feel any sort of tugging feeling when you saw this place?" Pidge questioned further.

Lance groans stepping up next to them. "Pidge do you really have to interrogate everyone who comes in here? Especially someone with that of haircut? Nuh uh..." Keith shoots a glare at Lance and subconsciously pats at his hair. 

"Well, you never know. He could be..like us." Pidge said, Lance and her connecting eyes for a brief moment.

"Well, just so you know, _you're_ going to do the memory spell if he isn't." Lance scoffed heading towards the Employees Only Door and disappearing behind it. Meanwhile, a very confused Keith was slowly inching his way out the door.

"Not so fast, Keith." Pidge smirked, turning her attention towards him. "You never answered my question. Did you experience a tugging sort of feeling when you saw this place?"

"I-I don't know? I guess?" Keith answered, hand on the door knob. Pidge pointed her finger towards the door and to Keith surprise he heard it lock.

"What the-" Keith didn't have time to finish his sentence because suddenly his feet were being swallowed into the ground. He looked down and saw dark green vines tangling around his feet and pulling him downward.

"What's going on!?" He grunted, trying to find something to grab onto. Pidge merely cackled and continued to pet her cat.  

"I'll explain on the other side! See ya!" She waves goodbye and the last thing Keith sees is Pidge's head disappearing behind the Employees Only Door.

 

\--

 

When Keith woke up, he was immediately greeted by an unfamiliar face. It was a beautiful woman with long white hair and bright blue eyes. He was sitting in a bright blue chair in  what seemed to be a storage room. Enormous shelves surround him with boxes and cat food placed on the shelves. The woman was holding a water bottle up to Keith's lips and had dropped it when he had suddenly awoke it seemed. Instantly, everything came back to Keith, the vines, the tanned boy and the cat girl.  Keith's survival instincts kicked in and he tried pushing the woman away. In the blink of a an eye, the woman had him pinned to the floor a laugh bubbling out of her.

"Hey!" Keith growled. "What the hell is going on?!" He struggled under the woman's iron grip.

"I am Allura, and you Keith, apparently have magic flowing in your blood according to Pidge." Allura told him.

"I disagree!" A voice rang out. A man with orange hair and an extreme orange mustache appeared from around a corner. " 'I guess' is hardly an answer! This boy could have been making it up."

"Coran, I just  _know_ he has magic in him!" Allura said enthusiastically. 

Corn smoothed out his mustache. "That's what you said about the last kid and do you remember how that turned out? Still can't find him. Your divination skills are not always correct Allura."

"Okay, I am officially creeped out. What the hell is going on?" Keith asked. "Am I on Punked? Haha! Good one guys! Where are the cameras?"

"This is definitely not Punked." Allura said in what was meant to be a reassuring tone. 

"Oh my god, I've been kidnapped." He concluded. Coran and Allura laughed simultaneously.

"Coran, could you do me a favor and get everyone else in here? We'll interrogate him together." Coran nodded and left the room quietly. "Now, Keith, I'm going to let you go but promise me you won't try to tackle me again. I am not a kidnapper, I promise."

"Why the hell should should I believe you?" Keith spat. "What the hell happened back there with all those vines?"

 "All your questions will be answered soon enough, but first, I'm going to let you up. Don't even think about running because I can pin you down in second." Allura helped Keith up from the ground and motioned for him to sit down in the chair he had woken up in. A couple minutes passed with Keith just sitting there and Allura humming an unfamiliar tune before five other people showed, three of them being Pidge, Lance, and Coran. One of the other two had a scar across his face and white and black hair. The second one was bigger than the others and wore and orange headband. 

Now, one thing Keith's old foster parents used to tell him was that his one major flaw was how much he relied on instincts alone. How he always went head first into a situation without thinking about the consequences. If you asked Keith later why he tried running he wouldn't be able to give you a clear and solid answer. 

Keith has definitely had better days.

It all happened so fast Keith wasn't sure who moved first, but the next second he was once again pinned to the floor. The only difference this time was that he was laying belly-up and the same vines from before holding him down fast.

"Hey! You've been getting better at that, Pidge." The guy in the orange headband commented. Pidge smiled and thanked him.

Orange Headband Guy then turned his attention toward Keith. "I'm Hunk. Welcome to Team Voltron!"

A groan erupted from Pidge at that. "For the last time, we are not calling ourselves Team Voltron. Right, Shiro?" She made eye contact with the man with white/black hair.

"I don't see a problem with it." Shiro shrugged. 

"Yeah! Another one for Team Voltron! Suck on  _that_ , Pidge!" Lance whooped.

"Everyone, we cannot lose focus on the matter at hand!" Allura reminded the crowd. "Pidge, you may release him. I have a feeling he won't try anything like that again."

In the flick of her hand, the vines had disappeared and along the way, had helped Keith to his feet.

"What the  _hell_  was that?!" Keith exclaimed, fear and anger turning into fascination.

"Magic." Pidge replied, a smirk reappearing on their face. 

Shiro approached Keith, a cautious smile on his face. "And we believe you have it. You see, The Castle of Cats is charmed to attract magic users and it is a place where we teach magic users how to control it." 

"But we still haven't tested you," Lance interrupted, "And I seriously doubt someone with a mullet holds magical ability."

"Um, that didn't make sense?" Keith said.

"Shut your quiznak!" Lance shouted back, voice going unnaturally high.

"That also doesn't make-"

"Lance just for picking a fight with him right off the bat you're training him." Shiro said in a fatherly like voice. Lance huffed indignantly and proceed to pout behind Hunk.

"Do you really think I can do magic?" Keith asked them. Keith expected them to give him encouraging smiles and thumbs up but instead he was greeted with awkward sideways glances and muffled coughing.

"Well, the charm that attracts magic users isn't foolproof, sometimes actual customers show up and we have to erase their memory and lead them away. Still don't know what happened to the last one..." Allura trailed off. 

"So what you're saying is that if I don't have magic then you'll erase my memories?" Keith asked.

"Yep." Corn confirmed.

"So if you're willing, your training can begin tomorrow afternoon." Shiro said offered.

People spend their whole lives hoping,  _wishing_ for something like this to happen to them. Now this moment had appeared in front of him. His whole life he prayed and threw coins into wishing wells hoping that something, _something_ would bring a little happiness, a little excitement into his life.  Keith didn't even have to think about his answer.

"What time?" He asked, excitement bubbling inside of him. Everyone smiled and cheered, Hunk wrapping an arm around Pidge and Lance and pulling them into a hug.

"Oh man!" Hunk exclaimed, "You don't even know how hard it is to get new members!

"Yeah, do you know how many times we've been reported to the police?"

Shiro shook Keith's hand. "Welcome to Team Voltron."

"Not again with that stupid name." Pidge groaned, climbing up onto Hunk's shoulders.

"No no no no no, he's not officially part of Team Voltron until he proves he can use magic!" Lance argued.

Keith feels something inside him shift and he wonders if he could belong here.

 


	2. Wet and Uncomfortable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay i sort of looked over this chap
> 
> thanks for reading <3

Keith didn't really know what to expect when he entered The Castle of Cats for the second time. He certainly did notexpect the inside floors to have been replaced by rough sand and the cat pens replaced with enormous boulders. 

 

He also didn't expect a rock to come plummeting towards him followed by voice telling him to watch out.

 

The rock hit Keith square in the forehead, causing him to topple onto the ground. He rubbed where it had hit him, groaning in pain. "Fuck, what the fuck-" His string of curse words were cut off by Hunk, lifting him off the ground and into his arms.

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! Keith, are you okay?" He continued without letting Keith answer the question. "I'm so sorry I was aiming something else entirely- oh jeez I'm crying now. Keith, don't die!!"

"Stop manhandling the poor guy, Hunk." Allura appeared from behind the Employees Only Door, probably the only thing that remained the same since Keith was there. "Bring him to my office and I'll have him fixed in a jiffy." 

Hunk gently put Keith down and wiped away some remaining tears. Keith put a hand to his head, feeling bump starting to form.

"M'fine." Keith mumbled. Hunk sobbed louder.

"Certainly not! Come with me." Allura lead him behind the Employees Only Door. They passed the storage area where Keith had been taken by Pidge's vines and reached a silver door labeled,  _ **Allura**_. Underneath the plaque was a sticky note that read,  _ **STOP SNEAKING IN HERE LANCE**_. Keith would have snorted at that if his head didn't feel like it was being ripped open. 

"Alright, now just sit down and relax," Allura motioned towards her office chair. "Focus on the pain." Keith closed his eyes and felt Allura's hand on his forehead. In a matter of seconds the throbbing faded and Keith was able to think clearly again. Allura removed her hand and when Keith opened his eyes, he saw Allura smiling at him along with a new familiar face entering the room. 

Since the rock didn't knock him unconscious, he was pretty sure Lance's outfit would. Lance wore running shorts that stopped at the middle of his thigh along with a loose fitting blue tank top and when Lance positioned his body in a certain way, Keith got a side view of his tan chest. Now, this was the same exact guy who had insulted Keith's haircut which he loved,  _thank you very_ _much._  Keith should not be getting flustered over the side of someones chest. Especially, someone who practically oozed the word annoying.

Still Keith couldn't help the blush that slowly crept up on his neck and on his face. 

"Allura, you  _have_ convince Shiro that Keith needs a different teacher!" Lance threw his hand up in the air. "I thought he was joking when he assigned me!"

"Give me one good reason why you don't want to train Keith." Allura demanded, eyes narrowing.

"I-I don't have the time! You know, all those sibling at home." Lance told her. Allura rolled her eyes and started to push both Keith and Lance out of her office.

"Lance, you and I both know you moved out a year ago. Now, shoo! I have lots of work to do and don't forget to get started on Keith's training." Allura slammed the door in their faces, leaving the two alone. Keith heard Lance scoff and watched as he ripped up the sticky note on her door. Keith immediately turned on Lance.

"What happened to the cats?" 

"What the heck are you talking about?" 

"The first day I was here, there were cats all over the place. Now they're all gone." Keith told him.

Lance sighed, exasperatedly like the answer was very obvious. "The cats are an illusion. Hunk took down the charm to train while Shiro used the storage room. Now, get changed into something warm. It's about to rain."

"I don't have anything here to change into and my apartment is pretty far away." Keith pointed out. Lance groaned and looked at Keith like he was the most annoying being in the world.

"I'll lend you some of the clothes I keep here." Lance walked away without another glance at Keith and shortly came back carrying a bundle of clothes. 

He promptly threw it at Keith. "Bathroom is past Allura's office and to the left." Lance stormed away, Keith's eyes following him the whole way.

"Jeez, whats his problem?" Keith mumbled to himself.

"Lance probably is having big gay thoughts about you and its bothering him, nothing personal." Pidge said, coming up from behind him startling him slightly. 

"W-What?!" Keith started. 

"I'm just messing with you!" Pidge cackled. "Seriously though, just give Lance a chance. He'll grow on you." Pidge waved Keith goodbye and headed after Lance. He didn't really see what Pidge was getting at. From the moment he met him, Lance had been nothing but mean to him. Keith couldn't understand why Lance was acting this way towards him, it was inconceivable. 

  

 Keith was surprised to find out that Lance was right. It was raining. After he had finished changing into Lance's clothes, Keith had looked around the shelter for Lance when he came across a window and peeked out of it. It was raining cats and dogs. It had gone from being a super sunny day to a rainy day. 

And Keith despised the rain.

Why? 

1) It is wet and uncomfortable

2) It is usually freezing

3) It is wet and uncomfortable 

"Hey, Keith! Over here!" Lance's voice pulled his gaze away from the window. He had replaced the running clothes with a raincoat and waterproof pants, and was motioning for Keith  to head his way.

"How did you know it was going to rain?" Keith asked when he reached him. 

"I didn't, Allura did. She told me this morning." Lance explained.

"How did Allura know it was going to rain?" Keith pressed. 

Lance sighed exasperatedly like the answer was obvious. "Allura's specialty is divination and healing, of course she would be able to predict weather." 

"Specialty?" Keith questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Every magic user specializes in some type of magic. You can probably guess what Pidge's is, Hunk specializes in earth magic, and Shiro manipulating objects- meaning he can levitate stuff and that sort - pretty cool, huh? Oh! And Coran can't use magic but he knows a lot about it since he grew up with Allura." Lance explained, hands moving round wildly as he talked.

"And you?" Keith asked. Lance showed off a cocky grin.

"Water." Lance said smugly, like it was the best thing in the world.

And to Keith, it really was the best thing in the world.

"What do you have planned today?" Keith asked.

"We're going hiking." Lance said.

Keith frowned. "But it's pouring out there and-" 

"And what?" Lance shot him a glare.

"And the rain sucks! Like really sucks!" 

"Well I don't mind it and if you really wanna see if you are capable of learning magic, you're just gonna have to deal with it." Lance hissed.

"Fine." Keith deadpanned. 

 

When Lance and Keith got on the trail, he immediately regretted his decision. The hood on his sweater was doing him no justice, his hair soaking and sticking to his face. Even worse the jeans Lance had lent him were practically drenched in water, causing Keith to shiver madly. Meanwhile, Lance didn't even looked fazed by the rain. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying it. 

Stupid Lance.

"How far are we going?" Keith yelled over the rain. 

"Up the the river," Lance yelled back. "I wanna see how flooded it is." 

Keith didn't know how far away the river was and he didn't see in any way how this helped him, but he was too wet and uncomfortable to deal with Lance.

It was funny how someone he only met a day ago, could annoy him so much. Keith would've laughed at this thought, but like he said, he was too wet and uncomfortable. 

Their hike to the river was full of the occasional grunt when Keith would slip and Lance ignoring it whenever happened. It continued like this for a good hour or so before Keith asked if they could stop for a moment so that Keith could squeeze some water out of his hood. So when Lance kept walking, totally ignoring Keith's request, you can imagine how he felt. 

By the time they reached the river, Keith had it up to  _here_  with Lance. Seriously, who did he think he was?

"Hmmm," Lance hummed to himself, suddenly deep in thought. "We went the wrong way, whoops."

Keith quickly rounded on him, eyes wide with fury. "You know what? I've had enough of all your bull. You drag me all the way here in the rain and then tell me it was all for nothing! And you've been nothing but a jerk to me since we met! What the fuck did I even do to you?" Keith threw down the hiking stick he had acquired along the way in a fit of rage. "What's the point of even learning magic if I have to deal with  _you_?!" 

Lance's mouth shot open, a dumbstruck look painting his face. "Wait- so you- I'm so-"

"What the fuck is it? Spit it out." Keith spat.

"You don't remember me?" 

"Huh-what?" Keith's eyebrows shot up.

"Woah! You totally don't remember anything?" Lance looked dumbfounded. 

"What don't I remember? Tell me!" Keith growled.

"We went to the same high school, dude. Every time I summoned enough courage to ask someone out, they would say they couldn't! You know why? Because they liked you! Even the guys! All the guys liked you! And it wasn't even fucking fair, because you would sit there and do nothing and people would fall at your feet. I tried so hard to date someone, but  _nooo_! It was Keith this, or Keith that!" Lance threw his hand up in anger.

" _That's_ why you're acting like a major dick?! Grow up! That was fucking forever ago! If it really was such a big deal, then why don't I remember any of this? Lance, I don't even remember you." Keith pointed out. Lance broke eye contact with Keith, looking slightly ashamed and Keith may have been mistaken but he could've sworn Lance looked slightly sad.

"Lance, sorry. I didn't mean to blow up on you-"

Keith stopped suddenly when he felt an intense heat wash over him. The heat, unlike the rain, didn't feel uncomfortable. In fact, it felt... right. Like it had always been there. What surprised Keith even more was when his clothes started to dry and the rain evaporated around him. The grass at his feat started to shrivel up and dry and Lance backed away from him, a smirk on his face.

"Heat, huh?" Lance commented.

Keith felt a small smile slowly form on his face. "I guess." 

"About earlier, you were saying something?" Lance said. Keith glared at him. "Okay! Okay! Look I know i should be the apologizing. I'm sorry. I guess, when I saw you come in and not even recognize me- at the time I thought you were pretending not to know me- I kind of exploded." Lance shot him a cautious smile. "Apology accepted?"

"Hmmm," Keith put a hand to his temple as if he were thinking hard. "I'll think about it."

"Keith! C'mon! I poured my heart and soul out!" 

Keith felt the heat die down. "Alright, but I'm not letting you walk away from this without me saying sorry, too. I didn't mean to blow up on you, even though you were acting like a-"

"Hey! I apologized!"

Keith ignored him. "Sorry." 

Lance stuck his hand out and Keith shook it. "Apology accepted."

When they released each others hands, Lance's face started to shape into a cocky sideways grin. "Race you back!" He turned on his heel running back towards the car.

Keith followed him after a quick, "Wait!" and he was hot on Lance's feet, rain hitting his face and clothes sticking uncomfortably to him. 

Keith decided that maybe being wet and uncomfortable wasn't so bad if you were with the right people. 

 


	3. Coran, Coran, the Gorgeous Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's go to the beach, beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT!!
> 
> hiya I'm back from the dead haha  
> anyway i made some changes to the first 3 chapters of this including adding chapters 3 and 4 together   
> if you don't feel like rereading thats okay I'm sure you'll be fine  
> thnx for your support B)
> 
>  
> 
> hi thnx for 400+ hits wowow thats a lot to me okay
> 
> Also id like to point out that Keith has been training for like a month now woo

Keith had come to the conclusion that tolerating Lance was decidedly a lot more easier than he thought it would be. Sure, they talked things out, but that didn't change the fact that Lance could be an incredulous dick-wad. 

Well, sometimes.

And once and a while, Lance was actually fun to talk to and their banter was great. Sure, Lance talked too much, but Keith found that if he just nodded his head at him at the right time, he didn't have to contribute to the conversation. After a few more training sessions - in which Keith's heat abilities had transformed into fire abilities - Lance had decided to start training him in other types of magic.

"Why? Cant I just learn fire?" Keith had asked. 

Lance shook his head, pointing a finger at him in disapproval. "Of course not! You need to be able to dabble in all sorts of magic! What are you going to do if someone attacks you with fire? Pow! Pow! Pow!" Lance said, imitating a fire user's stance and pretending to shoot fire out of his hands. "Obviously at the level you're at you'd never be able to beat them! So then you pull out your handy dandy," Lance faces Keith and pretends to pull something out of his hand. "Water magic! Blam! Blam! Blam! Water trumps fire, Keith, it's common knowledge. Even if your opponent is an amazing fire user, they will have the disadvantage if you're using water."  
  
"But what happens if they switch to water?" Keith asked, trying to contain a laugh. 

"Then you can change your water into snow or ice and KACHOW! They fall on their knees and beg you for mercy!" Lance dramatically fell to the ground, clutching at his throat.

Keith helps Lance up from the floor, letting out a small laugh.

"By the way Keith, you have to have a bag packed by tomorrow." Lance added.

"Why?" 

 

And thats how Keith, along with everyone in Team Voltron, ended up squished in Hunk's car on their way to a week long trip to the beach. Keith, in particular, was squished between Pidge, her cat, and the car door, his left shoulder cramping up uncomfortably. 

Keith had no idea why going to the beach would help him with his training, but Lance's crazy hike in the rain had worked so he didn't voice his disapproval.

"Keith, can't you scoot down anymore?" Lance asked him from the other side of the car. 

"Yeah, sure, let me just open the car door for more room while I'm at it." Keith snorts. 

"Hunk, what's our ETA? If I have to listen to these two any longer I'm going to throw myself out of this car." Pidge groans, somehow managing to squish Keith further into the car door.

"An hour or so, don't worry." Hunk replies from the drivers seat, a hint of amusement evident in his voice. Pidge groaned and opened up her laptop once more.

"Everyone look!" Coran suddenly exclaimed. He points out of his passenger seat towards a large museum, labeled,  ** _M_** _ **ágous Kai Ti Mageía**_. "It's the Mágous Kai Ti Mageía!" Over a thousand years ago, the Official Magic Council had their second meeting ever at that very museum! Truly spectacular." 

"What does the name mean?" Shiro asked, twisting his head over Allura's shoulders to get a better look at the museum before it was out of sight.

"Hmm, not really sure!" Coran admitted, shrugging. "Probably something to do with people like us, you know, wizards and witches. Excluding me, of course."

"Coran, we all still consider you one of us no matter if you're a no magic or not." Allura says reassuringly.

Coran puffs out his chest and twirls his mustache. "Thank you, Princess." 

"What's the Magic Council?" Keith asked. 

Pidge clears her throat. "Well, it's sort of like the people in charge. Imagine everyone who uses magic as a country. The country's government would be the Magic Council. They basically pass laws and hold trials and all the stuff a government does." 

Keith nodded his head in understanding.

The remainder of the car ride was uneventful, full of Coran spouting random facts and the occasional snore from Lance.

Luckily, for Pidge, Keith and Lance kept their arguing to a bare minimum when Lance was awake and it was more light-hearted than anything. Even Keith found himself starting to lull off to sleep every so often.

Finally, they arrived at a large beach house, a little ways from the water. Keith wolf whistled, admiring the house.

"Who's house is this?" He asked, placing his bags down once he got inside. 

"It's mine," Allura answered, smiling slightly. "My father passed this and the cat shelter down to me after he passed away."

"Sorry about your loss?" Keith tried, not really knowing how to act in this sort of situation. 

Allura patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright, Keith. Would you go help Lance bring in his luggage? I have a feeling he may have overpacked..." 

 

Keith nodded, and hastily made his way back outside to the car. He saw Lance pull out not two, but three small suitcases out of car, immediately dropping one of them. Lance attempted to pick up the fallen bag, failing when he fell flat on his ass. 

Keith made his way over to Lance and picked the bag off of the floor, smirking. "Need a little help?"

"Nope!" Lance shook his head furiously, jumping up and attempting to grab the bad from Keith's hands. Keith side-stepped him, an eyebrow raising.

"You need my help, Lance." 

"I can carry it just fine." Lance protested, trying to make another grab at it. 

"I'm trying to help you, just accept my offer." Keith scoffed, side-stepping him once again.

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do."

"Nope!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

 "Why do you want to help me so much?!" Lance grumbled, and stopped lunging for the bag. 

"I-I don't know!" Keith said. "You looked like you needed help..and I came." 

A wolfish grin engulfed Lance's face and he took a step closer to Keith. "Hmm, somebody have a crush?" Lance sang, his shit-eating grin getting impossibly bigger. Keith felt his face heat up at the mere thought of having any sort of those feelings for Lance.

"You're insufferable." Keith groaned, turning his back on Lance in an attempt to hide his blush. "Let's go inside, everyone's probably waiting." 

Lance followed him, who already seemed to have given up on the bag. "You never answered my question, Keith."

"W-What?" 

"You didn't deny it! Keith's got a crush on me, Keith's got a crush on me!" Lance sang, skipping around, laughing like an idiot. 

"Why the heck would I have a crush on an oaf like you?" Keith snorted, slightly amused at Lance's antics. Lance pretended to look wounded, before sticking out his tongue and heading inside.

"About time you two joined us," Pidge greeted them in the kitchen after they put away Lance's bags. "We're going down to the beach, wanna come?"

"Sure!" Lance chirped, he turned towards Keith. "You in?"

"I didn't bring a bathing suit." Keith said, suddenly feeling really stupid.

Pidge lets out a long sigh and lookins at Keith in disappointment. Lance on the hand looked like he was about to throw a fit. 

"Who the  _hell_ ," He starts. "Doesn't bring a bathing suit  _to a beach?!_ " 

Keith glared at him, folding his arms over his chest. "I didn't think we would be swimming, after all, we came here to train." That was partially the truth about why he hadn't brought his trunks. The truth was, Keith hated the ocean as much as he hated rain. Both were wet and uncomfortable. 

"The swimming is part of the training!" Lance answered.

"Hang on, how is swimming part of the training?" Keith snaps, throwing his hands out.

"Hey, you probably doubted the whole hiking in the rain idea, but it worked, right?" Lance pointed out. "My ideas are brilliant!"

Keith heard Pidge snort from where she stood. "Hey, isn't that how Coran trained you? Took you out in the rain?" 

Lance's face heated up and opened his mouth to protest, quickly snapping it shut when he saw no way out of his mistake.  

"Pfff," Keith laughed. "Not feeling so great now, huh, Mr. My Ideas Are Brilliant?"

"Ugh! Whatever! Just borrow one of my trunks and meet us down by the beach." Lance pointed his chin upward and raced out of the door, trunks already in hand. 

Pidge fixed Keith with a strange look. Keith had known Pidge long enough to know what that look meant, she was up to something. And in Keith's experience, it probably wasn't going to be in his favor.

"What?" Keith asked.

"You two argue like an old married couple." Was all she said before hastily making her way outside, leaving behind a flustered Keith. 

 

By the time Keith had changed into one of Lance's trunks and made it to the little spot on the beach they occupied, the group was engaged in a game of Coran, Coran, the Gorgeous Man. 

"How do you play?" Keith asked them. 

"Well, someone starts out as 'it' - it's always Coran first - and the person that's 'it' has to close their eyes and yell, 'Who's a gorgeous man?'" Hunk stopped explaining for a second, laughing at how silly the game seemed to sound. "And you have to reply no matter what with, 'Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man!' Of course the person who is 'it' can only do this five times."

"The person that's 'it' has an objective of course," Shiro interjected, "They have to try to tag everyone. If you're tagged, you're out automatically out and have to sit under the umbrella. Naturally, all of this will be done in the water. Any questions?"

"I don't think so." Keith answered. 

"Alright, Coran on your mark!" Allura called to the man. They all entered the water, Keith more reluctantly than the others, and were given a ten second head start before Coran announced that he was ready. 

Coran spun around in circles, his head snapping to wherever noise was being made. It took a good minute or so before he finally moved from his spot and to Keith's horror, towards him. Keith admitted to himself that he may not have the quietest and that was possibly - no definitely was why Coran was after him. It wasn't exactly his fault, since the ocean was so foreign to him. 

Coran advanced with remarkable speed, gaining on Keith who had given up on staying quiet and was running from Coran in top speed. Well, as fast as one can go through water. But Keith wasn't stupid, he knew at this rate Coran would eventually catch up with him.

_Think, Keith._

That's when he saw it.

Or more specifically Lance. An idea popped into his head, and he changed course towards an unaware Lance. Coran was nearly at Keith's heels now and yelled, "Who's a gorgeous man?" 

Keith grinned, this turn of events actually aiding in his plan. Simultaneously, Lance and Keith both shouted, "Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man," when Keith lunged behind Lance, using him as a human shield. Coran reached out his hand and tagged a surprised looking Lance, instead of Keith.

"W-What the?!" Lance spluttered. "Hey! That's cheating! Right, Coran?" 

"Afraid not, Lance." Coran said, his eyes now open. "You're out." Lance shot a glare at Keith before begrudgingly trudging back to their umbrella. Keith watched him go, a smirk spreading across his face. When Lance sat down, their eyes connected, giving Keith a chance to stick his tongue out at him. 

"Better hurry, Keith," Coran interjected. "I'm only giving you a five second head start."

Keith scurries through the water, very aware of Lance's eyes on him almost the whole entire time. 

 

"Okay so obviously water is something you struggle with." Lance said. It was their second day at Allura's beach house and Shiro had deemed it appropriate that the two fix in a training lesson before they went out for dinner. 

"Really? Thanks, Captain Obvious." Keith said with as much sarcasm as possible. 

"I was thinking we could head down to the beach before dinner and start working on some water magic. We're at a beach might as well take the opportunity." When Keith didn't reply, Lance continued. "For now let's just review what you've learned so far." 

Keith, although not wanting to train, quickly nods his head and gets into fight stance.

He watches as Lance's eyes skim his stance. "Your stance is weak, stand up straighter." Lance pushes the flat of his back.

"Your hands are too far from your face," Lance comments, "Don't you want to protect your face?" 

Keith lets out a huff of annoyance and does what he is told. 

He waits a few minutes as Lance and him just stand there. "What's up with you today, Keith?"

Keith relaxes his stance and shrugs slightly. "Tired, I guess." 

"Wanna take a break?" 

Keith's head whips up. "What?"

"We've been working hard on your training for nearly two months now. I think we deserve a little vacation." Lance flashes a smirk at Keith, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Keith raised his eyebrows. "Shiro wouldn't mind if we took some time off?"

"I think he'd very much mind it actually." Lance pointed out. "But what the hell, right?"

 

Pidge had seen Lance and Keith sneaking off. In fact, she had expected them to. Everything was going according to plan and she couldn't stop the devilish grin that spread across her face. For years she has been toying with this question in her head. Could a specialized water user ever get along with a fire user? Lance in the past had gone through terrible breakups with fire magic users, but something told her that Keith was different.

"Hey, Pidge. What's going on?" Hunk asked from behind her. She jumped up startled and quickly fixed her glasses.

"Nothing, just thinking about...Rover." She decided not to tell Hunk about her plan, fearing he might run off and tell Shiro. Hunk may be a number one bro, but she had to carry this through herself. 

"Oh! Your cat is inside." Hunk told her.

"Thanks, Hunk." She scurried inside and snatched Rover in her arms, ignoring his mewls of protest.

"Sorry, buddy, but I think you may be able to help me." She had said that she would have to do this alone, but Rover obviously didn't count. 

From the moment Lance and Keith had started to train together, it had secretly become Pidge's mission to carry out her experiment. She hadn't discussed the twos relationship with the team, but they would have to be an oblivious oaf not to realize how compatible these two were.  Sure they bickered a lot and obviously got off on the wrong foot, but who ever said the road to romance was smooth? 

She held Rover up in front of her face and pouted. "Meddling with people's lives is fun isn't it, Rover?" She put Rover on the ground and motioned for him to follow her out of the house. When they were far enough, Pidge took Rover behind a bush and crouched down to his level.

"You know what to do right, buddy? Find Lance and Keith for me." Pidge snapped her fingers and ever so slowly, the cat started to transform into a disfigured black object. The only discernible body part on the creature was its long arms and legs.

"I love demons." Pidge said. A while back she had started to study dark magic, the rest of the team were not too happy but had let her be. Then one thing had led to another and now she owned a pet demon.

Rover hastily disappeared, leaving Pidge. 

Pidge tried to recall the first time she met Rover, but didn't because why would she want to relive such a invaluable moment in her life? She would much rather relive the day she got her first computer-

Rover quickly reappeared before her eyes jumping up and down, making quick shrieking noises, a.k.a demon talk. Pidge could barely understand a word he was saying, but when she finally caught on she realized he was chanting two things.

_Galra. Come._

Rover swiftly shrunk back into cat form and jumped into Pidge's arms."Abort Mission. Rover we need to tell the team!" 

 

 

When Keith lost to Lance in a match of rock, paper, scissors - which decided what place they were going to - he knew he made a huge mistake of agreeing going out because, you see, they ended up in an arcade.

"Should've just crushed your scissors with my fist." Keith mumbled begrudgingly. 

Lance swung his arm around around Keith's shoulders, chuckling slightly. "Lighten up, Keith! This place totally rocks." 

"What makes you say that?" 

"I used to come here with the team all the time when we took vacations out here, sometimes even my family if Allura let us use the house. So yeah, I've had a lot of experience with this rockin' place." Lance declared proudly.

"Well, Arcade Boy, show me what exactly makes this place so fun." Keith challenged. 

"Sure will but first," Lance pulled out his phone showing Keith that Hunk was calling. He picked it up and kept it to his ear for barely a second before frowning down at it. "Dang, my phone died."

"If you wanna call Hunk back I have my-," Keith fished around in his pockets. "Nonexistent phone. Must've left it."

Lance shrugged. "Probably not that important. Now, back to business!"

Lance and Keith played every first person shooter in that place, constantly turning a game that was supposed to involve teamwork into a competition. But when they finally got their act together, some top scores were made. All in all, Keith was unexpectedly having a great time. He couldn't help but notice how much Lance got into the games and admittedly found it quite endearing. He also couldn't help but notice Lance randomly staring at him. Keith didn't get it, he would just be putting coins into the machine why would that be something interesting to look at?

Lance dragged Keith over to what seemed like a race car game except the character had outrageous wardrobes and wore things like bright red hats to mushroom hats it seemed. Or was that actually a mushroom?

"Welcome," Lance smirked. "To Super Mario Kart!" 

"Cool, I've never played before." 

Lance gasped incredulously. "How have you never played this?? Did you not have a childhood?"

"No."

"We are going to play so much Mario Kart and then you're going to tell me all about your sad excuse of a childhood over pizza." Lance said, entering some coins into the machine.

"Whatever this game is, you're going down." Keith said, sitting down into the chair.

Lance snorted, taking a seat next to him. "Bring it on Mullet. I  _own_  this game." 

 

 

In the end they tied, Keith winning two games and Lance winning two. They ordered pizza and sat down at a small table, Lance sitting in the seat across from Keith. They argued over who was the superior gamer until the pizza finally arrived. 

"Oooh, looks good!" Lance licked his lips and taking two pieces. "So, Keith, mind explaining why you've never played Mario Kart up until now?'

Keith took a bite out his pizza and shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable. "I..guess."

"O-Of course you don't have to if it..makes you feel..uncomfortable." Lance quickly said, laughing awkwardly. 

"It's fine, not like it's a secret anyway." Keith said.

"Wow, I've finally unlocked tragic backstory!" Lance joked, bumping Keith's foot from underneath the table. 

Keith chuckled before beginning. "When I was ten, I lost my parents. It wasn't anything tragic just a car accident, but once I hit high school and it was time to drive, I... I just couldn't. So here I am now, eighteen years old and I still can't drive. And if you're wondering why I never played video games, I was too poor. My grandma never got me anything as I grew up."

Keith met Lance's eyes surprised to see him staring intently at him mouth hung open

Keith blinks away, rubbing his arm uncomfortably. "Sorry, I know, it's stupid..."

Lance quickly recovers and places his hand over Keith's fidgeting one. "Wait no it's not stupid at all. I can't even imagine not growing up with parents. My family means to world to me."

Keith stares at their hands. "Your family? What are they like?"

Lance pulls his hand away and puffs up his chest. "Well to tell you the story of my family, I must first start off with an epic love story. The story of my mom and dad. Before getting married, my dad worked at an old fashioned diner flipping burgers. His life seemed so dull and boring until, boom! Guess who walked in?"

"Your mom?"

"Correct! And from there they fell in love and had me! Well, I was the last one, but before me came my eldest twin sisters Angela and Karla, my older brother Luke, and my sister Estefania."

"You're the baby of the family?" Keith laughs.

"Yep, mama's number one boy." Lance smiles, obviously very excited to be talking about his family. 

Keith opened his mouth to ask another question before Lance cut him off. "We should probably head back now, the team will wonder where-"

Suddenly, Pidge raced over to their table, sweating and out of breath. "Finally! I've been looking all over for you two!" She panted, still out of breath.

"Pidge, what's wrong?"

The door to the arcade slammed open, catching Keith's attention. Two huge purple men stepped into the room, their eyes darting around in search for something. They wore huge hoodies over themselves to hide their skin and had long, sharp nails. Pidge and Lance grabbed Keith and pulled him under the table, motioning for him to shut it.

The two men hung around the room for a while before leaving. When they heard the doors close, Pidge let out a sigh of relief. 

"What was that?" Keith exclaimed, crawling out from under the table after Lance and Pidge. 

Lance stared Keith dead in the eye and whispered fearfully. "Galra."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't ask me why they just didn't use magic to lift the bags just deal with it
> 
> they're such dorks okay
> 
> hmm i wonder what pidge is planning lololol
> 
> also im vv excited to write about their lil 'date' 
> 
> thanks for reading!


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